Recapping and Reviewing the Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2017

The Year Has Come to a Close, So Here’s Our List of the Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2017

This last year, we saw the release of many science fiction and comic book movies, but which ones stand out from the crowd? Well, quite a few, actually.

Unfortunately, out of all those movies, there were only a few that stood out in good ways. Nearly every sci-fi movie that came out this year was a sequel, a reboot, or part of a larger series, and the rest were adapted from books or comic books. Many of these (if not all) were mentioned in our article from last year forecasting 46 Potentially Awesome Upcoming Sci-Fi Movies from 2017. Not all of them were as awesome as we had hoped, but they are all worth talking about! So… let’s do that!

Let’s Start with the Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2017 Recap

Everyone here at Sci-Fi Addicts was super excited for this movie, but admittedly, we all went into it with low expectations due to the letdowns that were X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine. Luckily for all of us, it exceeded all of our expectations, and ended up as one of the best sci-fi movies of 2017! The opening scene where you get to see raw Wolverine savagery really made the movie. It was emotionally compelling and exciting all the way up to the ending. The ending was super lame and didn’t make sense. That, and X23’s constant screeching was pretty annoying.

I’ll start by saying I haven’t seen the original movie so I’m going to be judging this film as a standalone movie, and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the casting of Scarlett Johansson to play a traditionally Japanese role, but everything else was very cool. The effects were great, and I thought Majors character development was killer.

IMDb Rating: 6.4 | Sci-Fi Addicts Rating: 8

Here’s Our “Good but Not Great” Sci-Fi Movies of 2017 Recap

War for the Planet of the Apes is the latest in the seemingly eternal Planet of the Apes series. The title of this and the last few of these movies make me cringe at all the conjunctions, but the movies are generally good. War was well made and very entertaining. Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis were great. Bad Ape, played by Steve Zahn, had a lot of potential to become an emotional powerful role, but Matt Reeves seemingly changed his mind and used him primarily as comic relief, which got annoying by the end. A few major plot points were hinged on conveniently placed events that made the film seem a bit contrived. Overall, it was good, but I don’t feel the need to watch it more than once.

A few of the other guys on the team here at Sci-Fi Addicts are HUGE comic book nerds, so while they enjoyed the movie, they were annoyed with some inaccuracies. Spider-Man didn’t have a deep character arc, Mary Jane acted like the opposite of Mary Jane, and in my opinion, Vulture wasn’t really even a bad guy. He made some bad choices, true, but I don’t think he was scary or dangerous enough to be an intimidating main villain. However, we were all excited about the ending and Peter’s choice to turn down Tony Stark. Like most other superhero movies on this list, everyone is so OP’d that there was no real sense of danger, so it was hard to really be drawn into the fight scenes.

Chris Pratt entertained in the highly anticipated sequel to the 2014 comic book anticipation Guardians of the Galaxy. Though predictable, Guardians 2 was definitely funny, the soundtrack was great, and the depth of character we’re shown in Rocket Raccoon was surprisingly compelling. However, I think we can all agree that the ending was a cop out and didn’t make any sense. And it was kind of a cheap origin story for Quinn, but Yondu was hilarious so it’s totally worth it.

Our big problem with this movie was that all of the Marvel superheroes are becoming both quippy and idiotic in a desperate attempt to wrench laughs from the audience. There are definitely some funny parts in Ragnarok but at the cost of destroying all depth of character, comic book origins, and relation to previous iterations of the characters Thor and Hulk in the other movies. Also, the Doctor Strange cameo was awful and weird. If you are a fan of the Hulk, particularly the comics Planet Hulk andWorld War Hulk, you’ll hate this movie. But, if you’re just looking for a good time, Ragnarok is definitely entertaining.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the film adaptation of a super popular French comic book series, directed by a longtime fan of the series, Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element. The visuals are gorgeous, with some reviewers say they’re the best and most fantastical since Avatar. The story was lacking and both actors under-performed, but if you’re going in for pure visual entertainment, it’s worth a watch. I’m bummed, because as you may recall, I was super excited for this one.

Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Reynolds, was a sorta-sequel to the original 1982 film, Blade Runner, based off the Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Visually stunning, but the moving music and ambiance of this impressive science fiction film couldn’t save it from a plot filled with holes and patched with convenient events, as well as a severe lack of character development. We left the theater wondering what the film accomplished, and couldn’t think of anything.

Quick story: I grew up watching reruns of the Wonder Woman TV show with my mom, and we were both super excited that they were FINALLY making a blockbuster budget Wonder Woman movie. Suffice to say, we were disappointed. Wonder Woman has become this invulnerable female version of Superman who is stubborn and unbeatable. There’s no way she could get hurt or die, so its hard to care about the drama and the danger. Chris Pine was good and had a nice story arc with some great character development. But, otherwise, the movie didn’t offer anything new or worthwhile, and Diana was not the feminist icon she was back in the day- despite what the critics say.

Ironically, this looks like the original Alien poster even though the movie is nothing like the original. Property of 20th Century Fox

Ridley Scott is at it again with his re-imagining of the universe created in the Alien quadrilogy released in the late 1970’s to early 2000’s. Unfortunately, like Prometheus, Covenant got mixed reviews. Personally, we felt it was disjointed and disconnected from the previous canon, even Prometheus. It felt like Ridley Scott just made up another new origin story (which doesn’t make sense) and made a whole movie just to show it off. All that combined with the fact the aliens weren’t scary because they didn’t creep in the shadows and stalk their prey as they were wont to do, and the weird, unnecessary scenes (David learning how to play the flute… sexually…??) made for a confusing, conflicting story that missed its mark.

IMDb Rating: 6.5 | Sci-Fi Addicts Rating: 4

Downsizing

Downsizing, starring Matt Damon, is a strange little movie that promised laughs and social commentary and delivered. Unfortunately, it delivered all of it through its trailers. It did introduce us all to Hong Chau, who was fantastic and almost made the movie worth seeing all on her own! The plot (or “plots”) were confused and disjointed, but there were a few laughs throughout.

What a letdown! We all went in with low expectations and it somehow managed to be worse than I imagined. It was embarrassingly bad from the very first scene where Wonder Woman is breakdancing bullets away from hostages to the plot holes, to the unnecessary and pointless squabbles within the League, to Superman single-handedly winning the day as the Justice League played with Bruce Wayne’s giant robot toys. There were a few times we laughed out loud at how bad the movie was- one of which is the scene where Superman comes back to life and flies away and comes back without a shirt. I mean, if I had abs like Henry Cavill, I’d probably tear my clothes off too, but I never thought Superman was one for vanity.

This was another movie I was really looking forward to, mainly because the cast looked great. It pulled the heroine of the amazing TV show Vikings, Jude Law of 21, and of course, Gerard Butler of 300 and tons of other movies. This movie was cliched, and a little wimpy, despite all the action sequences. I would recommend watching it as part of a drinking game where you drink every time there’s a cliche or you roll your eyes. Time to get riggity riggity wrecked, son!

IMDB Rating: 5.4 | Sci-Fi Addicts Rating: 3

Final Thoughts: The Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2017

The last few years, the sci-fi cinemascape has been inundated with comic book movies and reboots of old cult classics, and some of them have been great! Some. Not most. DC’s last few superhero movies have, to be blunt, sucked really hard, and all of Marvel’s characters are slowly merging into one ultra-powerful, funny, cool, but still bumbling hero. The differences are what make them special, Marvel! Not everyone has to be funny and/or unbeatable!

Maybe we’re being too harsh, but if so, it’s only because of how cynical one has to become to survive some of the big-budget garbage being churned out through the Hollywood machine. Oh well. The best sci-fi movies of 2017 may have left something to be desired, but there’s always next year!

Stay tuned for a look at all the potentially awesome science fiction movies coming out in 2018!

Carly Courtney graduated summa cum laude from Sierra Nevada College with her BFA in Creative Writing. Focused mainly on creative nonfiction and journalistic pursuits, she has a lifelong passion for nerdy and alternative culture. Her blood is composed mainly of stale coffee and she loves reading and discovering new sci-fi movies and novels.